Later this year, Bolivia is set to enact the final part of their ‘Law of the Rights of Mother Nature,’ which assigns what have been traditionally human rights to the environment, Catherine Timms reports. The law, which is a world first, comprehensively defines Mother Earth as:

“the dynamic, living system made up of indivisible community of all living systems and living beings, interrelated, interdependent and complementary, which share a common destiny. Mother Earth is considered sacred by the cosmovisions of the indigenous originary campesino nations and peoples.”

The short law, passed in December 2010, proclaims the creation of the Defensoria de la Madre Tierra a counterpart to the human rights ombudsman office, but leaves the structuring and creation to future legislation.

It is believed that the longer law will establish 11 new rights for mother nature, including “the right to not be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that affect the balance of ecosystems and the local inhabitant community.” However, as the longer law is not finalised, the full 11 rights have not been widely circulated and have not been finalised. The short law however enumerates 7 specific rights to be enjoyed by Mother Earth, constituent ecosystems and human systems:

1. The right to life including the integrity of ecosystems and natural processes, and the necessary conditions for regeneration;
2. The right to biodiversity which should be preserved without genetic modification;
3. The right to water in sufficient quantity and quality to sustain life, protected from pollution;
4. The right to clean air
5. The right to equilibrium through “maintaining or restoring the interrelation, interdependence, complimentarity and functionality of all parts of the Earth;
6. The right to restoration of ecosystems damaged by human activity;
7. The right to live free of pollution including toxic and radioactive waste

Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, is responsible for implementing this law. The law is heavily influenced by the traditional Andean spiritual world view, which places the environment and the earth, or Pachamama, at the centre of all life. Following decades of destruction of Bolivian natural resources from the mining of tin, gold and other practices, there has been a general move towards embracing the traditional view of the human relationship with the earth in Bolivian society. In accordance with this trend the rights afforded by the short law are quite generous, so it will be interesting to see how they are utilised by both environmental protectors as well as private interests. And what makes this ground breaking legal move even more inspiring, is that Bolivia earns approximately US$500 million per year from mining companies, equating to nearly one-third of the country’s foreign currency. We also wait in earnest to see what further protections are outlined later this year.

Bolivia is the first to enact such a law, but it is not the first to provide legal protection for the environment. In 2008, Ecuador added a ‘nature’ provision to it’s constitution, which is not as comprehensive as the Bolivian law. However, the first successful Ecuadorian case was decided in June this year, with the granting of a Constitutional injunction in favour of the Vilcabamba River, against the Provincial Government of Loja. Two lawyers, Richard Wheeler and Eleanor Huddle brought the action on behalf of the River.

The case arose from a project to widen the Vilcabamba-Quinara road. Practices on the site led to large amounts of rock, sand, gravel and other materials being dumped in the River, increasing it’s flow and in turn, the risk of flooding. The changes to the river’s integrity affected the riverbank-dwelling populations and their ability to use the river’s resources. The Provincial Government of Loja has now been forced to comply with 6 court orders. Ecuadorians are still waiting to see whether the orders are complied with, as the 30-day deadline for most of the orders is quickly approaching. A successful case arising out of the weaker protection in Ecuador certainly bodes well for the Bolivian legislation.

The law in Ecuador was motivated by a growing disillusionment with multinational corporations and their exploitation of Ecuador’s unmatched variety (and quantity) of natural resources. After years of similar treatment, Bolivia is now under serious threat from climate change with scientists believing that temperatures will rise by 3.5-4C over the next 100 years, which would turn most of Bolivia into a desert. Even more pressingly, if temperatures across Bolivia continue to increase at the current rate, most of their glaciers under 5,000m would disappear within 20 years, leading to massive water shortages and crises in farming.

The idea of granting rights to the environment may seem like a radical idea, but it’s not a new one. People have been granting legal rights to non-human entities since for years, the most common example being  the corporation. Academics such as USC Professor Christopher Stone, were playing around with the idea of granting rights to the environment in the early 1970s. In his article ‘Should Trees Have Standing?’ Stone points out that “each time there is a movement to confer rights onto some new ‘entity’, the proposal is bound to sound odd or frightening or laughable. This is partly because until the rightless thing receives its rights, we cannot see it as anything but a thing for the use of us.”

Yet if conferring rights on the environment saves the ice caps that provide a population with fresh water, or a river that people rely on for food, maybe the line between protecting humans and protecting the environment is much finer than it appears.

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From the law school of Monash University, to the stables of Caulfield Racecourse and the summits of the Japanese Alps, Catherine Timms has always had a passion for the challenge. Whilst Catherine’s adventures are often diverse and unpredictable, writing is always the common theme that brings them all back home. Be it a newsletter about a piece of legislation or a CD review, she enjoys crafting a thoughtfully written piece about any topic.

Aside from writing, Catherine’s interests are music, slacklining, skiing (snow), yoga, surfing, the outdoors, reading, ideas and planning her wedding.

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